Various devices are known which, by means of an unstable support base, train the coordinative faculties of persons. Such training may be necessary, for example, for sports purposes, educational purposes or therapeutic purposes. However, training for purely enjoyment purposes is also conceivable. Generally, in such devices, an individual (i.e. a person or an animal) standing on a movable plate is made to balance such that the plate remains horizontal.
DE 100 04 785 B4, for example, describes a training apparatus with a platform which is mounted movably about two horizontal axes lying in one plane and perpendicular to each other. A person standing on the apparatus has to actively compensate for an instability that is generated by the movable bearing. The extent of movement, the movement resistance and the inertia of the platform can be adjusted mechanically, by adapting suitable devices on the apparatus.
AT 411 015 B describes a training apparatus for improving and training the sense of balance. In this apparatus, a platform is provided which, mounted on its underside, has two arc-shaped rockers. By rolling on the rockers, the platform can be moved in a harmonious, controlled see-saw movement. After stepping off the training apparatus, it is possible to change the degree of difficulty by adjusting the position of the rockers, as a result of which the tilting behavior of the platform becomes gentler or more abrupt.
WO 2007/035976 A2 discloses a device for moving humans or other objects, which device has a static base surface and a moved surface. Active, controllable, mechanical actuating elements act between the static and moved surfaces. Various predefinable movement patterns can be actively performed in several degrees of freedom of the movement. The movement patterns can be controlled by a computer. The degree of difficulty can be adapted by suitable selection of a program.
Although a degree of difficulty can be adjusted in principle in the known training apparatuses, it has to be adjusted by the user himself and may therefore possibly be chosen incorrectly. For example, if too easy a degree of difficulty is chosen, the training may not be demanding enough and therefore boring, and, if the chosen degree of difficulty is too difficult, the training may be too demanding and therefore demotivating. Improved performance during training has to be detected actively by the user, and the degree of difficulty has to be accordingly adapted manually by the user. Particularly when such training devices are used on animals, it is not at all possible to gain any feedback concerning the degree of difficulty.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a training apparatus which can detect the degree of difficulty appropriate to the individual and makes it possible to adapt the applied degree of difficulty.